Multiple incidents of police violence against civilians and abuse of power bared in public recently are unsurprising. From the very beginning, this is their character as violent defenders of this ruling few’s state. It is commonplace for them to abuse their authority, threaten, attack and kill especially the unarmed populace and the defenseless. But although expected of them, every new incident of their patent fascism against the Filipino masses is still very much enraging.

In Bikol, these police forces are notorious for the magnitude of civilians that they violated, killed and massacred. The list of their nanlaban-patay crimes, hiding behind the veil of various campaigns such as the anti-drug campaign, counterinsurgency campaign and peace and order campaigns, is very long. Since MO32 began in Bikol in 2018 until this August 2023, there are no less than 80 victims of police killings under the banner of the local counterinsurgency campaign and Simultaneous Anti-Criminality Law and Enforcement Operations (SACLEO). This is aside from the hundreds of Bikolanos killed during the bloody drug war and the tens of thousands illegally arrested and planted with fake evidences.

Some of these police crimes against the Bikolano masses are the summary execution of youth activists Marlon Naperi and Jaymar Palero, members of Albay People’s Organization, on Duterte’s SONA last July 26, 2021, the successive killings of eight individuals from Camarines Norte in just under two weeks from February 16 to 28, 2021 including barangay officials Barangay Dumagmang Councilor Melandro Verzo and Barangay Macogon Captain Geoffrey Castillo and the assassination of Joan Marpiga, a construction worker and Aldrin Enriquez, member of Camarines Sur People’s Organization, who were both dragged out in front of their families and shot dead in their own yards.

Worse is how not only does the police shrug these incidents easily, they also actively defend this culture of violence and impunity within their ranks. Just now with the case of Wilfredo Gonzales, previously discharged police who cocked his gun and harassed a cyclist, instead of imprisonment, his fellow policemen even facilitated a press conference for him. Something that the police will never do for ordinary Filipinos. They fall all over themselves in a hurry to demand due process when they themselves do not show even an ounce of respect for the laws and the rights of the public majority.

Without question, the PNP, as well as the AFP and all other institutions of this fascist state will never voluntarily own up to their culpabilities against the people. They are unafraid of the law because they know that blind justice under this rotten system will always be on their side. The only way for the people to fully attain genuine justice is through the people’s democratic revolution and armed struggle where a truly fair and class-conscious justice exists.